Donald Trump’s daughter persuaded him to strike targets in Syria, according to reports of a diplomatic memo.

A cable briefing to Theresa May and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson by Britain’s ambassador to Washington Sir Kim Darroch said Ms Trump was influential in bringing about the bombings, those who saw the memo said.

It claimed Mr Trump was “genuinely shaken” by pictures of more than 80 who died in a Sarin nerve gas attack were broadcast on cable television, according to The Sunday Times

Sir Kim reportedly pointed to a tweet sent by Ms Trump in which she announced she was “heartbroken and outraged by the images coming out of Syria following the atrocious chemical attack.”

Marking a striking U-turn from the anti-interventionist stance Mr Trump took during his campaign, on Friday he ordered the firing of 59 cruise missiles at a military target in the war-torn country.”

Four renegade soldiers from Ft. Stewart in Georgia — members of an anti-government militia that had grandiose plans of assassinating the president and toppling the government — lured the couple into the woods near the Army base on Sept. 30, 2011, shot York in the head, then forced Roark to his knees and executed him.

Roark, who had just been discharged from the Army, had been in the militia too, and his killers were worried that he or York would tell authorities about the scheme.”

Wesley Thomas, the step father of Tiffany York, is tackled by courtroom security during the hearing of defendant Sgt. Anthony Peden at Long County Superior Court, Thursday Aug. 30, 2012, in Ludowici, Ga. (AP Photo/Stephen Morton)

Three of the killers are serving life sentences for murder and conspiracy to commit murder; the fourth testified against the others in exchange for a shorter sentence.

At the center of the case is the ringleader, Pvt. Isaac Aguigui, who was under investigation in the death two months earlier of his pregnant wife, an Army sergeant, but still received her military life insurance payment of $500,000.

Now 25, he is serving two life sentences: One for murdering Roark and York, the other for killing his wife, Sgt. Deirdre Aguigui, and their unborn son.

In one videotaped interview, Aguigui referred to himself as “the nicest cold-blooded murderer you will ever meet.”

The day his wife died, he texted his girlfriend: “Baby, you want to know something sexy? I’m not working another day, baby. We’ll have plenty of money. All I need is your body whenever I want it.”

A new bill introduced in Congress this month would prohibit immigration officers from wearing any clothing bearing the word “police,” which some officials complain is deceiving and only serves to escalate tensions in their communities as the Trump administration steps up immigration enforcement.

The bill, authored by Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-New York) and would apply to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents, comes at a time when officials and immigrant rights advocates in Los Angeles are urging ICE agents to stop identifying themselves as “police” in their search for people living in the country illegally.

In February, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, City Atty. Mike Feuer and Council President Herb Wesson co-signed a letter to the directors of ICE and the Enforcement and Removal Operations division of ICE “to urge in the strongest possible terms that ICE immediately cease this practice in our city.” The letter was copied to Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly.”

April 9 (UPI) — At least 31 people died in Egypt after explosions targeted two Coptic churches as Christians celebrated Palm Sunday, state media outlets reported.

A bomb hidden underneath a seat in the main prayer hall exploded at the Saint George Coptic church in the northern Egyptian city of Tanta and killed at least 25 people and injured at least 60 others, Egypt’s state-run Nile reported.

In the city of Alexandria, at least six people died and 33 others were wounded in a suicide bomb attack targeting the Saint Mark Coptic Orthodox Cathedral, where the head of Egypt’s Coptic Church Pope Tawadros II was during a ceremony, Egypt’s state-run al-Masriya TV reported. The Coptic leader was not harmed, officials said.”

The folks at Military Phonies send us their work on West Virginian Joey Gibson who claims to be a former member of Navy SEAL Team 2 and a 22-year veteran of the Navy with eight deployments to the global war on terror;

Since he can afford the uniforms, you know he’s legit:

The Navy remembers his service differently.

If you look in block 12 of his DD214 you’ll see that his term of service was from July 1990 to December 1997 but the math says that he had 3 years and 10 months of service. I’m guessing that he had a couple years worth of “bad time” AWOL and/or jail time. His last unit was listed as TPU PSD Norfolk. According to the Navy website, that means Transient Personnel Unit, Personnel Services Detachment;

TPU Norfolk consists of five departments: Administrative Services, Operations, Discipline, Maintenance and Training. Each of these departments is responsible for specific types of Sailors.

I’d guess that the department that dealt with Mr Gibson was the discipline portion of the TPU.”

The Navy has grounded all its T-45 training jets for two days in the wake of a report that instructor pilots in the Navy’s training squadrons are refusing to fly the jet because of a dangerous rise in problems with the cockpit oxygen system.

Dozens of instructor pilots have refused to fly the T-45d in recent days because of a spike in dangerous physical symptoms suffered by pilots flying the aircraft triggered by a lack of oxygen or contaminants in the oxygen system, according to a Fox News report Tuesday.

A spokesperson for Naval Air Forces confirmed the grounding and that about 40 percent of the T-45 training flights were canceled due to pilot concerns.

Pilots who spoke to Fox News complained about Chief of Naval Air Training Rear Adm. Dell Bull’s handling of their grievances.

“He is telling us to just ‘shut up and color,’” an unnamed pilot told Fox. Officials who spoke to Fox acknowledged the communication problems on the issue up and down the chain of command.”

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Marine Corps said Wednesday that charges against a drill instructor linked to the death of a 20-year-old Muslim recruit from Michigan will move forward to a military trial, though they will not include the more serious charges the recruit’s family had wanted.

The Marine Corps’ Training and Education Command, based in Quantico, Va., announced that Gunnery Sgt. Joseph Felix, who served as drill instructor to Raheel Siddiqui, will face a general court-martial on a charge of cruelty and maltreatment. A source with knowledge of the underlying allegations behind the charge said it was related to Siddiqui’s death at the Marines’ Parris Island, S.C., training base on March 18, 2016.

Felix, whose name was publicly released for the first time, is accused of slapping Siddiqui just before he fell three stories from a stairwell at his barracks. An earlier investigation found that the drill instructor had verbally and physically abused Siddiqui, including calling him a “terrorist,” and that his actions just prior to Siddiqui’s death were directly linked to the fall, which a local coroner called a suicide, though his family rejects that.”

BANGKOK — A group of young transgender Thais sits together in women’s clothes behind rows of men, waiting for military officers to call their names and decide whether they must be drafted as soldiers.

“I was born male, so I must be here, as duty calls,” said Kanphitcha Sungsuk, 21, in a cream-colored dress, holding up a mirror to check her make-up and long black hair.

Thailand is widely seen as a paradise for gay and transgender people, but many complain of being treated as second-class citizens and the obligation to respond to the draft can be a nightmare when they turn 21.

“Most are stressed and worried that they will be undressed, stared at, or humiliated in public,” said Jetsada Taesombat, executive director of the Thai Transgender Alliance for Human Rights…

…”Society looks on and thinks we are accepted, but it’s actually not so,” said Khwan Suphalak, 23, adding that hotels had barred her entry over her gender. “We’re always treated differently.”

SAN FRANCISCO — Kendall Jenner’s disastrous Pepsi ad didn’t just offend the nation with its appropriation of Black Lives Matter protest imagery to sell soda, it has left San Francisco police wondering if certain legal lines were crossed, according to TMZ.

The website is reporting that San Francisco police are working with the San Francisco City Attorney’s office to determine whether producers of the since-pulled ad crossed a legal line by improperly using the police department’s logo on the costume uniforms of police officers depicted in the ad.

The appropriated logo in question can be seen in behind-the-scenes footage of the making of the commercial, TMZ said. Both the ad and the behind-the-scenes footage were released this week online.

In the ad, supermodel Jenner is interrupted during a photo shoot by a band of happy, attractive protesters. She decides to tear off her blond wig and join the protest.”

The German military’s counter-intelligence agency is looking into 275 suspected right-wing extremists in its ranks, including a soldier heard saying “Heil Hitler,” the Defence Ministry has told parliament in a letter seen by Reuters on Sunday.

About 143 of the cases were reported last year and 53 this year, the ministry wrote in its 15-page answer, detailing incidents of soldiers performing Nazi salutes or uttering racist remarks against servicemen with migrant backgrounds.

Public displays of Nazi symbols and salutes are illegal in Germany, where most people are repulsed by any degree of sympathy to the dictatorship responsible for the Holocaust.

The letter noted the lax manner in which some of the most serious cases have been dealt with.

One such incident is Case 29, which involved a soldier who was heard conspicuously saying “Heil Hitler,” “Heil our leader” and “Sieg Heil, comrades,” the ministry said.”

(The article continues on in this general fashion for quite some time, and then, almost as an afterthought, Reuters casually throws this paragraph in at the very end):

German media reported last year that there are signs Islamists were trying to join the German armed forces to get military training with the possible goal of carrying out attacks in Germany.”

An Army Reserve major general died Friday at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, officials announced Saturday.

Maj. Gen. Francisco Espaillat collapsed Friday during individual physical training and was rushed by ambulance to Womack Army Medical Center, where medical staff pronounced him dead, according to a news release.

The 56-year-old, who was from New York City, was assigned to General Officer Support, Office of the Chief of Army Reserve, at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.

He received his second star only a couple of weeks ago, on March 27. He had been selected to serve as the chief of staff for U.S. Army Reserve Command.”

WASHINGTON — A Tennessee state senator who has criticized federal attempts to bar discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in workplaces and businesses has been nominated to be President Donald Trump’s next secretary of the Army.

The selection of Mark E. Green, a former Army flight surgeon who served as a medic for a special-operations team that captured Saddam Hussein, would be a sharp U-turn in civilian leadership of the Army. The last Army secretary, Eric Fanning, was the first openly gay man to hold that post.

Green’s nomination, which had been anticipated for weeks, had drawn criticism from LGBT advocates even before Trump officially named him Friday. On Tuesday, the American Military Partner Association, the largest organization of LGBT military families, accused Green of making “a shameful political career out of targeting LGBT people for discrimination.”

Ashley Broadway-Mack, president of the association, said, “All soldiers and their families, including those who are LGBT, should have confidence that the secretary of the Army has their back and is working for their best interest. Unfortunately, based on his vicious, anti-LGBT record, Mark Green cannot be trusted to ensure all those who serve have the support they need and deserve.”

WILDWOOD – Women veterans currently are the fastest growing homeless population. One woman is doing her part to help them. Katelynn D’Aurizio, who is currently active duty in the Air Force, is competing for the Ms. Veteran America title, raising funds for and awareness of homeless female veterans.

If she wins, she’ll be an active advocate for Final Salute Inc. and their efforts to assist who they term “the fastest-growing homeless population.”

Provided by Katelynn D’Aurizio

“Seeing my sisters struggle causes me great pain,” said Senior Airman D’Aurizio. “By competing in this contest, I can help raise money for these women who have sacrificed their lives and families for our country.”

D’Aurizio, who graduated from Wildwood High School in 2010, joined the Air Force four-and-one-half years ago for a “better life. I wanted to continue my education, as well,” she said. “I really enjoy it and have decided to make it my career.”

The 25-year-old is stationed at Scott Air Force Base in south central Illinois, where she works in intel operations.”

A naked man spotted driving a convertible around Bluffton’s Dubois Park was arrested Thursday, according to a Bluffton Police Department news release.

A subsequent police report said he treated officers to a similar view while in a Bluffton Police holding cell.

Robert Lessig, 63, was arrested on multiple charges “after he was seen driving in Old Town while exposing himself to bystanders, according to the news release.”

Robert Lessig Beaufort County Detention Center

The call reporting a nude man driving a white Chrysler Sebring convertible came in to the department at around 4:30 p.m., according to a police report released Friday.

“An officer immediately responded to Dubois Park to find Lessig parked at the end of Lawrence Street next to (Dubois Park),” according to the release. “The officer also found beer bottles inside and outside the vehicle.”

Lessig reportedly told the officer that the bottles of Dos Equis beer were not his.

However, the bottles “were cold when officers picked them up,” the report said. Bottle caps of the same brand of beer were found on the floorboards of his car, the report said.”